WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia #321 “From Class A To One For All” by Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook and John Hunt, available now in English from Viz Media.
The jury's still out on whether Minoru Mineta was indeed confirmed to be LGBTQ in My Hero Academia Chapter #321. Although he is a very unpopular character, Mineta's possible bisexuality being canon would be a pretty big step for both him and the series, but it would hardly be the first. MHA has already introduced a couple of LGBTQ characters you might have missed -- the first being Tiger of the Wild Wild Pussycats.
Tiger Is MHA's First Confirmed LGBTQ Character
Tiger's real name is Yawara Chotaro and he was a member of the team responsible for training U.A's first years over the summer. A lesser-known fact about Tiger is that he is a transgender man. While this hasn't yet been mentioned in the anime, Kohei Horikoshi, MHA's mangaka, made sure to include this fact in Tiger's character profile in the manga. Since Tiger was introduced in Chapter #72 of the manga, way before Mineta's controversial confession, that would make him the series' first confirmed LGBTQ character.
Tiger's Quirk is Pliabody. He can stretch and contort his body in ways that would be impossible for anyone else to. It's not only quite handy for the capture and detainment of villains but also for the rescue of civilians from tight spaces. While Tiger is not on par with heroes that have traditional strength Quirks, he's still quite physically strong. While sparring with Deku, for instance, who was using One For All at five percent, Tiger was able to easily knock him back.
According to Horikoshi, Tiger was assigned female at birth and transitioned after a visit to Thailand, as pictured above. There hasn't been any further expansion of this subject but his gender identity being confirmed in such an unambiguous manner is preferable to it being endlessly teased and hinted at but never really confirmed.
Magne Is the Second Trans Character In MHA
Tiger isn't MHA's only transgender character. He finds company in the League of Villains' Kenji Hishiki, better known as Magne. Unlike Tiger, Magne's gender identity is never outright confirmed but it's pretty obvious from clues dropped within the series.
Magne is male-presenting, regularly dressed in traditionally masculine clothing. Despite these, her teammates called her "Big Sis Mag." The members of the League also made it a point to correct anyone who misgendered her. While correcting Overhaul, Toga asked him not to repeat that mistake again, implying Magne getting misgendered may have been a regular occurrence.
Magne also had a gender-based Quirk. Her magnetism affected opponents differently based on their gender, causing men to become south magnetic poles and women to become north poles. Magne had a lot of potential as she played a very important part in every battle she participated in. Unfortunately, she was prematurely killed by Overhaul in a move that can only be described as 'Bury Your Gays' rearing its head once again. Hopefully, Mineta being a hero might mean that he isn't fated to meet the same end.
